October 28, 2013

School Board
Roslyn, NY

Dear School Board Members:?

Did you know that 78% of people believe that high schools should start later? That seems to be a very high percentage. Teens deserve to have the right amount of sleep, so that they are ready for the busy school day ahead. According to research ... delaying school start time had the effect of increasing sleep duration and decreasing daytime sleepiness. Further, there was a dose-related effect in that the one hour delay was more effective than the 30 minute delay. Children whose school start an hour later went to bed at the same time as those in the control group (around 9:30p.m.), and got an average of around 30 minutes more sleep. These results run counter to the argument, raised by skeptics and opponents of delaying start times, that children would just stay up later if school began later, and their sleep would not be affected. Children with later start times also reported less frequent sleepiness." This proves that making the start time later really does improve the work ethic and lets students get more sleep. ??

Some parents may be thinking that if school starts later than their kids will go to sleep later, resulting in no change in amount of sleep. However, studies have shown that kids do receive more sleep when school times started later. Kids will want to take advantage of extra sleep. Others would say that their kids would be home too late if school started later. If school started at approximately nine a.m. and ended at about 3:15, sports would start at 3:30 and end at 5. This isn't such a big change from middle school sports that would often start around 3. As always, transportation is available for kids, so working parents wouldn't have to worry about picking up their children. ??

Changing school times would really be a helpful change to High School students. High School students really do need their sleep. Not only would it help them during the school day, but also during the weekend students are sleeping till 11 a.m. and sometimes even later! If they were to get up later on school days they also wouldn't be as tired on weekends. Elementary students like to get up early. They are always waking up at 8 a.m. and ready to start their day. Studies also showed that High School students learn better when school starts later and Elementary School students learn better earlier. When a High School student has a test first period it is very hard for them to do their best; even if they may want to they can't because they just woke up. If school started later they would have had more sleep allowing them to feel more awake and more prepared for the test. If school started later grades would go up. Also, teacher's wouldn't find kids sleeping on their desk. ?
There is an easy fix for this problem. Switch the start times of the High School and Elementary School. Adjusting bus transportation wouldn't be a problem because they would be picking kids up at that time either way. Now they would just be picking up Elementary School kids earlier and then the High School students after. I would talk to the teachers about the proposal of a switch in times and see their reactions as well. By changing the school times can only lead to success for the students. You would be helping us all out if you were to switch the times.??

Its your choice. You can help all of the students get a step closer to the grades they want and the better sleep that they need. Make the high school start time later! This will change our mindsets, focus, future, and education.


Sincerely,
Your fellow students